The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-03-17

would nave struck her Dack with their ham
mers. They would have kicked her down the
hill.
There can be no alienation Jesus must
suffer and Mary must look, suppose she
thought of the birth-hour in Bethlehem. |
suppose she thought of the time when, with
her boy in her bosom, she FASTENED on in the
darkness in the flight toward Egypt, l sup
pose she thought of His boyhood, when he was
the Joy of her heart. suppose she thought of
the thousand kindneSses He had done her not
,orsaling her or forgetting her, even in his
last moment, hut turning to John and saving:
"There is mother; take her with you. She is
old now. She cannot help herself. Do for
her just as would have done for her if had
lived. Be very tender and gentle with her.
Behold thy mother" She thought it all
over. and there is no memory like mothers
memory, and there is no woe like mothers
woe.
remark again: This is tender scene be-
cause it is Christian reunion Why was it
that, in the seasonal meeting, when asked
woman if it We're her son who sat next to her,
making profession of his faith, she made no
answer; but after a moment, trying to con-
troll her emotion, she burst into tears. | said
within myself, she need not tell me the story.
1t is the old story of q prodigal got back.
THE dead is alive again, and the lost is
found Oh, how many families there are
that rejoice together to-day!
These Christians during the rest of the year,
perhaps, will not know much about each other.
You so in one circle of society, and this one
travels IN that path, and this one the other
path; but to-day we all come on one platform,
and we make one confession, and we
cling to one cross, and we gaze upon
one death anguish 1t seems to me this morn
ing not like a church but like q great family
circle, and we join hands around the cross of
Christ, and we say; lone Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one cross, one Christ, one dox-
ology, one heaven." While / stand here it
seems to me as if this communion table, which
is only seven or eight feet long and three or
feet wide, widens until all the Christians of
our own denomination can sit at it;
and still the table widens until all the
Christians in this land of all names
and denominations come and sit at it;
and still the table widens until it bridges the
sea, and Christians on the other side of tho
Atlantic come and sit at it; and still that TIA
BILE widens, until the redeemed of heaven min
gle in the communion: Church militant;
church triumphant.
Zone army of the living God
To His command we bow;
Part of the host have crossed the flood,
And part are crossing now"
Again, my friends, this is an absorbing
scene because it arouses so many precious
memories We look back and remember the
knew the meaning of the bread and the wine,
we sat in the side pews on Sacramento days,
or in the galleries, and looked as our fathers,
mothers, and older brothers and sisters sat at
the communion. Or, if we sat with them,
we pulled at mothers dress and said:
'What does that mean! What is that in
the cup? What is that on the pate!" o, yes;
we remember those Sacramental days of our
boyhood. We remember how much more
tender father was on that day than on any
other day. We remember how mother stood,
and without saying one word looked at us,
and her eyes full of tears. Oh the
dear old souls! They have gone! But
until the day of our death we will associate
this holy ordinance with their memory.
And when our work on earth is done we will
just go up and sit down beside them in the
heavenly church, as we used to sit beside them
in the earthly church. and then we will drink
new wine in our Fathers kingdom.
Behold the saints beloved of God
Washed are their robes in Jesus blood
Brighter than angels, 10, they shine;
Their glories splendid and sublime"
l remark again: This scene is tender to-day
because it is a confessional. You and | re-
member the time when if a man had charged
us with ANYTHING like imperfection or wrong
doing, we would have thrown ourselves back
on our honor, and said ''You dSl't know
who you are talking to. shall resent such an
insult to my honor and integrity" We do
not feel that way to-day. As we gaze upon
the sacrifice of Christ, and think of what we
have been and what we have done,
our hearts melt within us. We see
one dying accused for our SIM and we hear
Him in his dying words, begging for our ser
vice, and yet how little service we have rem
| dered OF this short life we have begrudged
| God even fragment. Alas! Alasl Some
of us tsvo lived out the most Of our days, and
yet we have rendered to God no earnest ser
vice. Sad, that we could have so maltreated
Him on whom all our hopes depend. Oh. my
brethren and sisters in Christ, to-
day. join, hands with me in, con
fession before Christ! If there be
any place more humble than another, let IL,
take it. If there be any prayer more i'm
Fortunate than another, let us breath it. If
there be any confession more bitter thar
another, let us now weep it out
''Wel might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died
For man, the creatures, SIM
Once more: This is a tender and absorbing
scene because it is anticipative My brethren
we are not always going to stay here. This i
not our home This is only the vestibule o
the church in which, at last, we expec
to enter. After awhile our name
will be taken off the church books, O
there will be mark in the margin to indi
cate that we have gone to a better churcl
and to higher communion. Our Father
not going to let His children remain in tn
dust. The grave is no place for us to stay in
1.-The trumpet shall sound and the dead shal
rise" The Lord shall descend from heave
with shout and the voice of the archange
and we shall rise The white robe in whic
they put us to our last slumber here must &c
whittier. Oh the reunion of patriarchs
and apostles, and prophets, and of al
our glorifed kindred, and of that ''grea
| multitude that no man can NUMBER Gu
sorrows over Our journey ended. 1t vii
be as when kings banquet And, just as tn
snow of winter melts, and the fields wi
brighten in the glorious springtime, so it wi
De with all these cold sorrows of earth; the,
shall be melted away at last before the warn
sunshine of heaven.
While present these thoughts this morn
ing does it not seem that heaven comes very
near to us, as though our friends whom w
thought great way off, are not in the dis
lance but close by. You have sometime
come down to river at nightfall, and yol
have been surprised how easily you could hea
voices across that river. You shouted over t.
the other side of the river, and they shoute
back. 1t is said that, when George White
field preached in Third street, Philadelphia
one evening time, his voice was heard cea
a little while chaplain in the army, remem
Der how at eventide we could easily hear tn
voices of the pickets across the Potomac, jus
when they were using ordinary tones. An
as we come to-day and stand by the river @
Jordan that divides us from our friends VIII
are gone. it seems to me we stand on on
bank, and they stand on the other: and it
only narrow stream, and our voices go an
their voices come. Hark, Hush! / hear dis
tinctly what they say: "These are they
who come out OF great tribulation
and had their robes washed an
made white in the blood of the Lamb.
Still the voice comes across the waters an
| hear: 1--WE hunger no more, we thirst II
more, neither shall the sun light on u.s. no
any heat, for the Lamb which is in the mids
of the throne leads us to living fountains G
water, and God wipeth away all tears fror
our eyes,
The brightness of this festal hour is shad
owed with the sorrow of sister churc
whose pastor is dying. or dead. Though you
politics and your religion may have been di
ferent, think you will all agree in sa,
ng that when Henay Ward Beecher goes OF
Of this life it will leave a vast vacuum il
this city and in the land. For eightee
Years we have been friendly neghbors. 81,
weeks after my arrival in this city as a pa
Tor, in giving out notice in his own churcl